2012

Dubstep fans go nuts for Soundmatters' sidekick FoxLo subwoofer

The Soundmatters FoxL v2 Platinum speaker already uses an apt-X signal to dramatically improve the fidelity of wireless sound from your smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled computer, but the company just announced its newest sidekick: a compact subwoofer with industrial flavor that injects your music with 25 watts of extra-tight bass.

Judging by the press photos (Soundmatters will show me in-person at CES), the FoxLo by SoundMatters isn't much bigger than the FoxL speaker itself, and builds in similar ports for USB charging, a knob to adjust the bass, and a 3.5mm audio out jack for hooking it up to non-FoxLo sources.… Read more

Samsung's Blu-ray home theater systems get tubes, cloud DVD storage

Samsung's audio announcements yesterday included an innovative sound bar and tube-based iPod speakers, the company also rolled out its new line-up of all-in-one Blu-ray home theater systems.

Two new systems were announced, the HT-E6730W and HT-E5500W, both with a similar set of core features, including built-in 3D Blu-ray, hybrid vacuum tube amplifiers, built-in Wi-Fi, and Samsung Apps.

The higher end HT-E6730W is a 5.1 home theater system features two tall-boy front speaker, while the HT-E5500W has smaller, bookshelf front speakers. The press release mentions that the HT-E5500W has two HDMI inputs and an iPod dock; it's … Read more

Lexus shows full-frontal of LF-LC Hybrid Sport Coupe concept

Lexus brought the game of teasing upcoming car show unveilings to new heights by issuing a third photo of the LF-LC 2+2 Hybrid Sport Coupe concept ahead of the 2012 Detroit auto show.

The first photo came out, with few other details, almost a month ago, and was followed more than a week later by a slightly more revealing photo. Now we get a clear, full-frontal shot along with a more detailed side view of Lexus' concept.

The concept takes the sharp, some would say ugly, styling of the Lexus LFA supercar to more extreme levels. The long, lower … Read more

BenQ's Joybee GP2 mini projector gets cozy with iPhone

BenQ's Joybee GP2 LED mini projector looks a lot like its predecessor, the GP1, but there are a couple of big enhancements.

For starters, while the housing's the same, the $549.99 GP2 integrates an iPhone/iPod dock, which is a big deal. It also features 1,280x800-pixel (WXGA) resolution and native support for 720p video.

BenQ also says that it has improved the interface and now offers an optional battery pack that will power the unit for 3 hours at half brightness (100 lumens) or 1 hour at full brightness. Two built-in 2-watt speakers deliver sound, and … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 79: The beginning of the end for locked bootloaders (Podcast)

We say goodbye to HTC's locked bootloaders and hello to Mr. Android and his cadre of Japanese schoolgirls on this week's episode.

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EPISODE 79

NEWS:

-Verizon ready to discontinue Droid 3, 4G hot spots, and more

-Asus Transformer Prime ICS upgrade, bugfixes announced

-HTC makes locked bootloaders a thing of the past

-Google Moves To Ensure UI Integrity On All Android 4.0 Devices

-Clockwork Mod tether: USB tethering, no root required

-Meet Mr. Android

-Android gets manga treatment

CES … Read more

Sony Ericsson teases its upcoming CES smartphone

How does a lesser-known brand generate some pre-CES buzz? Why, with the ever-popular Facebook tease, of course.

Sony Ericsson is the latest to reveal a sneak peek of a smartphone it plans to reveal at CES next week through the channel of its official Facebook page.

The four images are intentionally hard to make out, but what is clear is that the handset will have HD photo and video capability, and will come equipped with a dedicated camera button.

Underneath the montage, the company's Facebooker wrote, "Just a few more days until we can reveal some interesting news--what do you want it to be?"

Signs point to a new Xperia Arc at the other end of the big reveal, specifically the dual-core "Nozomi," or Xperia Cloud, that we first learned of in early December. That Android device is expected to pack a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, a 720p HD resolution display, and a whopping 12-megapixel camera.

We'll find out soon enough either way.… Read more

CES chief muses on what to expect this year

Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro talks big numbers when he describes this year's Consumer Electronics Show, which takes over Las Vegas next week.

He is expecting more than 140,000 visitors who will collectively crisscross the more than 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space and visit more than 2,700 exhibitors.

For one company, this CES will be its last. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will give the opening keynote at CES 2012. But the company announced last month that in 2013, it will no longer host a booth or lead a keynote there.

"They'… Read more

Velocity Micro debuts Shine, 'smallest HD-capable' projector

Up until now tiny pico projectors have been mostly disappointing. But picos like the Velocity Micro Shine are growing up a bit in an effort to offer better picture quality.

According to the company, the Shine's claim to fame is that it's the smallest HD-capable projector with a native resolution of 1,280x768 pixels (WXGA). While that's far from full 1080p resolution, the company says it can accept a 1080p (1,920x1,080) signal. It uses DLP technology with LED illumination and weighs 9 ounces and measure 4 inches on its longest side. … Read more

Hitachi unveils new G-Drive external storage solutions

Heading to CES 2012, Hitachi announced today that it has added two new internal hard drives to its portfolio of external solutions.

The two drives are the 2.5-inch, 5,400rpm 1TB Travelstar 5K1000 and the 3.5-inch, 7,200rpm 4TB Deskstar 7K4000. They both support the latest SATA 3 (6Gbps) standard, will be shipped inside G-Technology-branded solutions, and are designed exclusively for Macs.

These solutions include both portable storage devices to use on the go and desktop external storage devices that offer high speed and a large amount of storage.

In the portable-drive department, there are two drives: the … Read more